Sports Nuggets

Kiszla: Is point guard Ty Lawson buying what coach Brian Shaw is selling?

Are the Nuggets crazy? They want to do what? How can creating more shots for physically gifted but offensively awkward big men JaVale McGee and Kenneth Faried make Denver a better team?

That's precisely what point guard Ty Lawson wants to know.

It hasn't been easy for Lawson to make sense of how the Nuggets intend to play basketball.

"I think it has been a little frustrating for him, to be honest with you," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said Tuesday, on the eve of the season opener at Sacramento.

In the transformation of the Nuggets from the freewheeling approach of former coach George Karl to an offense designed to pound the rock inside, the toughest sell for Shaw has been convincing Lawson this new strategy can work.

Take a peek behind the curtains of the first NBA training camp operated by Shaw, and the most fascinating development has been the test of wills in the building of a relationship between this rookie head coach and Lawson, the team's point guard and leading scorer. Change is hard. At times, there has been open disagreement between Shaw and Lawson.

"Coach told me he wanted me to be aggressive. And I told him, 'Well, where do you want me to go?' How am I going to be aggressive if I beat my man, and then I have to beat the defender of our big in the lane, if he's standing in the way?" Lawson said. "The level of frustration was pretty high."

To his credit, Shaw is bluntly honest that he issued a difficult challenge to how Lawson views the game, and his role.

"We've made no secret about it: Our big guys need help from our guards," Shaw said.

To his credit, Lawson has tried to see the logic in the new approach, rather than dig in his heels with a stubbornness his $10.7 million salary could allow.

New Nuggets coach Brian Show realizes that frustration sometimes comes with change. And change has arrived. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

"It's been a big adjustment," said Lawson, who added he is slowly learning to pick new spots and ways to attack the defense. "I like to penetrate and touch the paint. It's a little bit harder when there are bigs in the lane, waiting for the post (pass). There's really nowhere for me to drive. Now, I'm working on passing inside and then cutting. I never really cut during my first couple years in the league. Now, cutting off the big could actually get me an easier shot, either from the corner or with a baseline layup. This could take my game to another level, make it more multidimensional."

Have there been rocky moments? Yes. But Shaw and Lawson are working through their differences and, for better or worse, the hammer Karl sought to wield authority in the locker room has been replaced by a more open coach-player dialogue that characterizes the realities of NBA life in 2013.

How well Lawson and Shaw succeed at living on the same page will go a long way to determining how close the Nuggets can get to matching their 57 victories of last season, or if the team will struggle to make the playoffs in the Western Conference.

"I think the guys are starting to realize that inside-out doesn't mean that JaVale and Timo (Mozgov) shoot all the balls. I still want Ty to look to shoot first. But his instincts will make him make the right play," said Shaw, who trusts if a big man flashes into scoring position, his point guard will feed the rock inside.

Money, power and the strong wills of two smart men butting heads caused the controversial breakup between Karl and Nuggets president Josh Kroenke in the aftermath of a spectacular regular season, a coach of the year award and another flameout in the NBA postseason.

What also became crystal clear, however, was an irreconcilable philosophical difference: Karl did not trust the offensive ability of McGee, refusing to develop plays for a center given a $44 million contract prior to last season. The unintended consequence was a lack of on-court chemistry between the 7-foot center and Lawson, who averaged 16.7 points per game last season.

"Playing inside-out and throwing the ball in to our big men as a first option is not the most advantageous way for us to play as a team. I understand that," Shaw said. "But we have to establish an inside game. That means throwing the ball inside and cutting off that pass, spotting up and stretching the floor in order for our team to have the correct spacing in order for us to do some of the things we need to do offensively.

"I understand completely why George Karl played the way that he did: 'You big guys, you kind of stay out of the way and just wait for drop-off passes, get the rebounds and go set screens.' And that still is part of this offense. But I want to build confidence that when we throw the ball inside to have a game plan."

Here's the risk Shaw and the Nuggets' management team are taking: There will be victories sacrificed during the season in the hope that Denver will develop a dependable half-court offense better suited to those inevitable push-comes-to-shove junctures in the playoffs.

Is it possible a Nuggets team with a 47-35 record could suffer growing pains and be stronger in the postseason as a reward? Will basketball lovers in Denver, especially ones with enduring fondness for Karl, buy this brave, new idea?

With many NBA prognosticators warning of a long, cold winter in Denver, it won't be an easy sell.

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — A West Texas man has been charged with impersonating an officer by using sirens and flashing lights to skip to the head of the drive-thru line at a fast-food restaurant. Full Story